Was USAID was providing "US Aid" to NGOs which were urging prosecutions of Trump, providing political donations to prosecutors going after Trump, etc....?FLBear5630 said:No, I want a professional response out of our Executive Branch, not this amateur hour *****whiterock said:Dude. You need to wake up to reality. A LOT of people are unhappy with government, and they have a right to see their grievances redressed. They elected a guy they believe will actually attempt to do it. And he is.FLBear5630 said:See, that is the difference. You view war. I view getting things done and not destroying people's lives.LIB,MR BEARS said:FLBear5630 said:He campaigned on using tariffs to expand revenue, not telling an ally he would lower if they elected who he wants (see Canada) and threatening half the world. He campaigned on analyzing looking for Govt waste, not illegally freezing all funds already allocated by Congress. He campaigned on lowering inflation and prices not "short term pain" to be carried by the lower income brackets.4th and Inches said:its what he campaigned on, its why he won. We got to ride it out better or worseFLBear5630 said:4th and Inches said:retirement accounts will be fine as long as people play the game. If you knee jerk at every market reaction, you will lose so much money.FLBear5630 said:Geez, you pick sensationalized stories to create public policy around and shrug off the vast majority that went well. FEMA has some issues, reform and restructure. No problem, eliminate??? A little knee jerk over, your example, the illegal act of someone that was fired when it was brought to FEMA's attention.historian said:
I didn't condemn everything . I noticed that the governments record is spotty and filled with failures.
Heck, in responding to the hurricane damage in North Carolina, the Amish did better than FEMA! FEMA is doing something now because we actually have leaders in place. A big part of the problem was politics. And that is the underlying issue: basic government services should not be contingent on politics. Who knows how often they are? I remember of the reports from Florida in which FEMA passed on homes with Trump signs. Considering how bigoted the Left is, I doubt this kind of negligence is limited to last year's hurricanes.
A little measure is needed. Rhetoric, sure that is the name of Trump's game. But this knee jerk across the board acts will do more damage than good. I am sure a lot of retirement accounts look great today, check Tuesday.
If you don't need it, I agree. If you are retiring, not so much.
Now the bigger question, this is what you wanted? Letters, tariffs, threats, and firings?
The guy is making China look like a reasonable partner for other Nations. Be curious to see how the threat on 100% tariffs on the BRIC nations either spurs it on and puts more Nations in China's orbit or squashes it bringing China to Trump's demands.
He is playing numerous games of chicken at the same time, I expect because he is being told the Courts will step in so get it done now on many of these. The other Branches of Government will not let him encroach on their areas.
Be interesting to see how mid-terms shape up. I have an idea, let's get rid of US Federal Pensions to those already retired too while we are at it. See how that goes over.
He's got two years to make significant progress. What did you expect, slow play and sweet nothings? This is ideological war. In war you do things you wouldn't do in peacetime.
The federal bureaucracy destroyed a lot of lives over the last 4 years, in some cases directly with malice & forethought (J6'ers, mask/vaccine critics, etc....), others indirectly, derivative of terrible policies (inflation, urban crime illegal immigration, etc....) The entire system, state/federal/local/institutions FORCED young women to share a shower with fully intact males or risk their scholarships......bumping women out of scholarships, teams, competitions, even spots on medal stands and all-time record standings. And what about the carving up the bodies of troubled young kids in the name of "affirmation."
Most who did nothing wrong but work. I am not interested in trashing the whole thing for the next 5 years so that in 15 things are much better. I have paid for everything my whole friggin life, getting within 10 years of the end and we are going to bring the pain now? Those of us in the last 10 years are going to be the ones bearing this ***** So, no I do not want a f-ing war - real or ideological. I have seen enough for one lifetime. Don't blow it up now.
Where the hell have you been while Biden Admin was launching an ideological war against the American people the last 4 years.
Seems like you want nothing to change with government except the rhetoric about what it's doing.
You should want an effective response, which is what you're getting.
You don't freeze all funding and a day later rescind because the memo was "poorly written".
They did not rescind all of the freeze, just the memo about it.
https://www.axios.com/2025/01/29/federal-funding-freeze-memo-rescinded
You don't antagonize all our allies in one week.
We didn't antagonize all of our allies, just the ones poking us in the eye.
You don't tariff half the world using knee jerk tariff rates pulled out your ass. Why 25%? Nice round number? What is the economic impact? Is 25% enough is 10% too little. Nothing, just random numbers in 5% increments. BRIC, 100%. Come on.
It's called negotiation. 25% is enough to hurt, and the number will rise if we don't get what we want, which we will, because we are in a stronger position.
You say you were a professional, this is how you would run your projects/ops? It is all over the Board. Want to get into DOGE's behavior? No one knows what they are doing, what they have access to and who should have it. Little things like security clearances and data sources, well its Elon so he can see anything. Don't tell me, Donald can think Elon a security clearance on the fly...
Oh stop making up crap. USAID is for overt funding, with big red, white, and blue flags on signage and packaging. No classified operations there. Covert funding is done by CIA. We are particularly amused at your suggestion that the people hired to oversee the bureaucracy must be overseen by the bureaucracy. If POTUS tells USAID to let Doge do an audit, USAID had to let Doge do the audit. What the hell is wrong with that?
You really think this is well run? It looks like a bunch of ideas people came up with at a bar with no real knowledge of what it takes to do it. I gave him credit in week one, since he is like Cocaine Bear on a bender...
It's impressive. Everywhere all at once. Very destabilizing to the networks we need to root out, limiting their ability to respond and coordinate resistance.
Why did USAID give $27 million to the US fiscal sponsor of the group controlling Soros-funded prosecutors and telling them which American citizens and politicians to prosecute? https://t.co/nFm7wqXntQ
— Mike Benz (@MikeBenzCyber) February 2, 2025
We should all really, really want to know that. And with +50 senior USAID personnel put on administrative leave, sounds like we are going to know details pretty quickly.
In principle, NGOs are a good thing. But they can be corrupted too, turned into partisan fronts. And when those partisan fronts are given public monies to do things government itself cannot politically or legally do......isn't that a problem?
You are 100% emoting your way thru this.
Think, man. THINK!
I used to sit in Country Team meetings and listen to USAID directors talk about giving away money they way a preacher talked about the Lord. Will never forget the time a Bush 41 appointed Ambassador actually poked fun at the way the USAID director got so full of the holy spirit on aid projects. A Bush 41 appointee, mind you, not some MAGA nut.
Collapsing USAID into State Dept is an idea which could save the taxpayer a lot of money while increasing effectiveness of the aid, the purpose of which is to empower us POLICY (not to save the poor).
